With Watercolor Ground, you can paint on cardboard or paper maché boxes to transform the surface into something like watercolor paper. These boxes come in lots of different shapes and sizes at your favorite craft store – perfect for all kinds of gift-giving.

Apply the ground to the surface with a hake brush and let dry for 24 hours before painting. When everything is dry, spray the box and lid lightly with an archival aerosol varnish to protect the surface.

Pink Heart

1. Draw a heart on the lid lightly with pencil
2. Outline with a strong wash of Rhodonite Genuine
3. Paint the heart with lighter washes, dry in between to keep the lovely translucency
4. Dab small dots around the edge of the lid
5. Paint a strong line of color along the top edge of the lid, then brush with a clean damp brush to pull a lighter wash to the bottom edge
6. Paint the sides of the box with a light wash to highlight the delicate translucent pink

Golden Gourd

1. Draw a gourd on the lid lightly with pencil
2. Outline with Quinacridone Gold, then fill in with a wash
3. Drop a little Quinacridone Rose into upper left of the gold wash for a bit of blush
4. Add roundness to the gourd with some Quinacridone Burnt Orange
5. Draw a stem on the gourd and add curved marks to the lid’s edge with a Serpentine Genuine Watercolor Stick
6. Soften your lines by dissolving the marks slightly with a damp brush
7. Mix Quinacridone Gold with Quinacridone Rose into a light wash to add glowing color around the bottom of the box

Lifted Leaf

1. Brush a strong wash of Sap Green to the lid and allow to dry slightly
2. Use a barely damp brush to lift a curved line out of the pigment in the center of the leaf
3. Repeat for the ribs of the leaf by starting at the outer edge and lifting pigment towards the center stem
4. Paint the box bottom with strong vertical strokes of Sap Green, keeping the painterly lines of the brush strokes